Allium tricoccum |
Allium cernuum |
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ramp, small white leek, wild leek |
lady's leek, nodding onion |
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Bulbs | 2–6, usually borne on short rhizome, ovoid-conic, 1.5–6 × 1.5–3 cm; outer coats enclosing 1 or more bulbs, brownish to grayish, reticulate, cells finely fibrous; inner coat white, obscurely cellular, cells irregularly arranged. |
2–5+, clustered, often short-rhizomatous at base, rhizome not stout or iris-like, oblong, elongate, 1–3 × 0.8–1.5 cm; outer coats enclosing 1 or more bulbs, grayish or brownish, membranous, minutely striate, cells in regular vertical rows, narrowly elongate, fibers persistent, parallel, few; inner coats white to pink or reddish, cells in regular vertical rows, narrowly elongate. |
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Leaves | ephemeral, usually absent at anthesis, 2–3, basal; blade solid, flat, elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, (15–)20–30(–40) cm × 15–90 mm, tapering to long, slender petiole, margins entire. |
persistent, green at anthesis, 3–5, basally sheathing, sheaths not extending much above soil level; blade solid, flat, channeled to broadly V-shaped in cross section, 10–25 cm × 1–6 mm, margins entire or denticulate. |
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Scape | persistent, solitary, flexuous distally, terete, 10–40 cm × 2–4 mm. |
persistent, sometimes 2 or more produced successively from single bulb, usually clustered, nodding, solid, terete or ridged, particularly distally, sometimes flattened and narrowly winged, abruptly recurved near apex, 10–50 cm × 1–3 mm. |
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Umbel | persistent, erect, loose, (6–)30–50-flowered, obconic to ± hemispheric, bulbils unknown; spathe bracts persistent, 2, ± 3-veined, lanceolate to lance-ovate, ± equal, apex acute, beakless. |
persistent, cernuous, loose, 8–35-flowered, hemispheric, bulbils unknown; spathe bracts persistent, 2, 3-veined, lanceolate, ± equal, apex acuminate, beakless. |
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Flowers | campanulate, 4–7 mm; tepals erect, white to cream or yellowish, oblong to ovate, ± equal, not withering in fruit, margins entire, apex obtuse; stamens ± equaling tepals; anthers white to light yellow; pollen white; ovary crestless; style included, linear, shorter than stamens; stigma capitate, scarcely thickened, unlobed; pedicel 10–20 mm. |
campanulate, 4–6 mm; tepals ± erect, pink or white, elliptic-ovate, ± equal, withering in fruit, margins ± entire, apex ± obtuse, at least outer tepals strongly incurved, midribs not thickened; stamens exserted; anthers yellow; pollen yellow; ovary conspicuously crested; processes 6, flattened, ± triangular, margins entire or toothed; style exserted, linear, ± equaling stamens; stigma capitate, scarcely thickened, unlobed; pedicel 6–25 mm, becoming stouter in fruit, elongating and bending abruptly upward from near point of attachment. |
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Seed | coat shining; cells smooth. |
coat dull or shining; cells smooth, minutely roughened, or each with minute, central papilla. |
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2n | = 14. |
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Allium tricoccum |
Allium cernuum |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Oct. | |||||
Habitat | Widely distributed on moist soils in mountainous and cool regions | |||||
Elevation | 600–3500 m (2000–11500 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
e North America
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AL; AR; AZ; CO; DC; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KY; MD; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; NE; NM; NY; OH; OR; PA; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; ON; SK; Mexico
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Allium cernuum is the most widespread North American species of the genus. It is closely related to A. stellatum, and the character commonly used to differentiate them has been umbel orientation. In both species, the inflorescence is nodding in bud, but in A. stellatum it usually becomes erect by anthesis. In A. cernuum the peduncle remains permanently recurved near the apex, although the inflorescence may sometimes become erect overall, or nearly so. While this character is helpful in identification, an almost exclusive reliance on it (even by one of the present authors in his youth) has obscured other clearer distinctions between the species and has confused their geographic ranges. More reliable characters for differentiating these species are bulb shape (elongate in A. cernuum, ovoid in A. stellatum) and perianth shape (campanulate in A. cernuum, stellate in A. stellatum). Unfortunately, perianth shape is often difficult to see in herbarium specimens. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 234. | FNA vol. 26, p. 247. | ||||
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Allium | Liliaceae > Allium | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | A. allegheniense, A. oxyphilum, A. recurvatum | |||||
Name authority | Solander: in W. Aiton, Hort. Kew 1: 428. (1789) | Roth: Arch. Bot. (Leipzig) 1: 40. (1798) | ||||
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